Press Releases

ACLU lawyers and advocates are among the nation's leading experts on civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. They are regularly sought out by leading broadcast, print and online media to lend an essential voice to the conversation about some of the most important issues facing the nation.

Please attribute the following to Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, in regards to the death of Ninth Circuit Court Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Villagra clerked for Judge Reinhardt in the 9th Circuit from 1995 to 1996:

TIJUANA — Deported U.S. Army veteran Hector Barajas, who has been living in Mexico the last 8 years, today received word from the Dept of Homeland Security that he is being granted U.S. citizenship. Barajas, a decorated vet who received an honorable discharge after serving nearly six years in the mi

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Two Bay Area fathers who have been detained for over six months at the Contra Costa West County Detention Facility in Richmond, California sued the federal government today in a class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful and prolonged detention.